TRANSCRIPTION
June 20
5 Leinsterr Sq
W. 2
Dear mother.
Just received a letter from you were [where] you want all details about Harry. Well I think I told you all he has made plenty of friends he seems to be a favourite I think. The times I was out with him his friends kept rushing up to him & seemed very pleased to see him. He worked very hard at Reading they had to go [illeg.] to work, it was a bit after, he had a bad cold at first, we were having a lot of snow & rain when he landed, but he soon got over it. I saw him last Sunday week for a short time & he looked very well & he has got on very well with his flying I am looking forward to his leave. I hear from him every week & reg too, if they don’t write they send a p.c [postcard] I often hear from Hal & Jim & of course I write often to them. If Reg wants anything he just asks Harry [illeg.] he is only a few hours away. It is good that Reg is in the artillery it is not nearly as dangerous as the infantry, the loss of life is not so heavy now - now that the British have such good guns. Harry didnt have time to go to Aunt [illeg.] anyhow they are in Wales. I am sorry they didn’t take him to Aunt Ada’s I told him to go next time for certain.
Harry thinks I am just the same, a trip to England doesn’t alter one, although my friends in NZ seem to think so, [illeg.] a [illeg.] & so fourth, I write about 6 letters a week & then am done. You may be sure I’ll do all I can for your boys I did all I could for Hal when he was over, we were quite pals & I think he is a very manly sort of boy. Jim seems to think he might be over soon anyhow he says he is alright has a good time. They all tell me I have handsome brothers & ought to be proud of them they are not bad are they? You seem to be a small family just now scattered on various farms & 3 of us over here, never mind we will all be home soon.
I think the NZ gov is dotty, why skim the country so of men – sent more than any country in proportion of population & a farming country at that & then conscription is carried is a bit off they try to keep up too large a number the asses. Why London is teaming with men not in uniform, & now that America is in & 1000’s of Irish doing nothing. Mrs Aiken has been in to see me this morning so I had to stop writing she looks very well I have just this moment got a field p.c [postcard] from Reg & he is doing well & writing soon Had a letter from Harry very thrilled with his flying he will be very good at the [illeg.] got a cool head on him. I believe hundreds of girls wait outside the grounds for the flyers they are [illeg.] but of course the men like them. Harry has a friend up there & he often on Sundays goes to his home, he is a nice looking sort of man. I tell Bubs he has to stick to N.Z girls.
I suppose lots of NZ’s have returned with their pick of wives lots of mothers will be sorry that their boys [even?] left NZ Some of the NZ boys are so young. NZ always go about in groups 4 or 5 together people often [illeg.] sometimes about 12 or so. There is a lot of NZ’s in London just now, Harry says he gets leave soon when he gets his wings. Pova [?] Peltyer is married to a farmer I believe Philip Collier is to be married soon to a nice girl.
Some papers have come for Harry. H- likes Auckland Weeklys No letters have come for Hal lately I suppose Aunty sends them to him direct now she has his address by now, it was lucky she sent them to me as he says he got [illeg.] although he knew they wrote but now his address is France so he wont be moving unless he gets with Jim or Reg. I really meant to have written to Auntie [Evelyn?] but was [illeg.] so please let her know this. Love to all Aunties & Grandma from your loving daughter Edith
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Yes I am sure this group of flyers looks nice they seemed a jolly lot I met them when they first arrived & saw them [illeg.] at Paddington, they are all separated now but hear from each other, they were altogether at Reading I thought H- could beat them in looks, they all call him Waldo not Harry I have my name at the Records Office for Reg so they let you know how Reg is, he will come through alright Sending him a parcel again from Sally spent 7/10 of his sundry I’m afraid [illeg.] this time
Love from Edith
Yes I keep Reg posted up in news, he likes to hear all about Harry & his days
July 4th
Just heard from Reg again today, he has cut his [illeg.] hand & is in the hospital for a few days, he says it isn’t much or he would have been sent over here. He will let me know in a day or two how he is getting